The 2006 NBA Draft is just two days away, and in a little more than 48 hours, Charlotte will know who its two newest Bobcats will be. Charlotte currently holds the third and 50th picks in the draft, and with rumors swirling about, its not certain who will be holding up a Bobcats jersey in New York on June 28.

Bobcats Gereral Manager and Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff sat down for an interview last week to discuss the upcoming draft, as well as the addition of Michael Jordan to the Bobcats ownership group.

(On picking third) We have to make a decision on the best talent, and it seems that in this draft, the best talent fits the needs of our basketball team. I also think a big key in this draft is what Atlanta does. I know they are behind us, but in terms of those top six players that everybody talks about, I think Atlanta is the wild card. With those six players, some of those players can slip down depending on what Atlanta does. So if Toronto wants to move back to get (Andrea) Bargnani, I don’t think Bargnani will be there if they move beyond us.

(On Bargnani’s game) I think now it’s more perimeter orientated. We went to practice sessions -- Kenny Williamson and J.B. just came from watching him play in Europe. I had the opportunity to watch him last season and this season. He really has good size and \really seems to care about the game. He can shoot the basketball and in practice sessions I’ve seen him down on the post. He’s a very good basketball player.

(On his post up game) I think it’s important for you to have something that is NBA caliber and he can do that in terms of his shooting. And as you look at the list, when he first came into his league he didn’t go on the post, so he added a different dimension to his game this year. And now he’s rebounding -- he didn’t rebound before and now they post him up, so I think it is most important that you have one skill level that distinguishes you from everyone else.

(On their situation with Brevin Knight drawing interest in potential trades) The one thing we want people to know is that we are not making the calls right now -- the calls are coming to us, and it behooves us to listen. And that is one thing that we have always been straight up with Brevin about, is that if we can put him in a position where we can be a contender and he would be respected, then we would consider doing that, especially if it benefited our basketball team. But if it doesn’t happen, we are happy with Brevin. I think he did great with him and Raymond together. I think the chemistry between him and Raymond was very good, but Brevin is just one of the guys that there is some interest in. Our core group of players, we get calls about all the time, so we know we are on the right track. We know we have a nice young basketball team, and there’s a lot of interest in our players.

(On how the draft will improve the team) In talent -- there are some players we think in this draft that have upside to be stars down the road. I think the other area we have to consider is that we have that 50th pick, so the scenarios that are involved here are do we take a European player, do we take a young kid who might slip and send him down to the D-League and let him play, or do we sit here and from what we’ve seen in prior drafts there is someone who always slips. If you look at Alan Anderson, if you look where Bernard Robinson landed -- Anderson didn’t get drafted and Robinson was really late. It was thought they might both be late first rounders.

(On the Bobcats Majority Owner Robert L. Johnson’s new venture with Michael Jordan) Bob’s always wanted this. Mike and I converse every day. We are on the same page, and I think what we have is a foundation, and Mike will help us improve this basketball team. One thing about (Jordan) is that he is competitive, and we’ve added another competitive person to this organization.

(On how Jordan can best help the team) Well you know, he’s been there and he’s done it on a very high level -- higher than most people -- and I think any influence in those situations is very important. It would all behoove us to listen to Michael and the primary thing that could come out of this is to do things that are best for the basketball team. I have the utmost confidence in that this is where Michael’s head is, that’s where Bob’s head is, and that’s where all our head’s are. What can we do to make the basketball team better?

(On the type of conversations Bickerstaff has with Jordan) We are basically letting him know what we are doing and what we are thinking about in our situation, and that’s the essence of those conversations.

(On Jordan’s thoughts of the new talent) Well he’s been out watching the playoffs, watching the games and he even watched us play, obviously. So he’s up to speed.